Support Arrangement And A Refrigerator Provided Therewith

ABSTRACT

A support arrangement for receiving refrigeratable products in a refrigerator comprising at least one vertical guiding groove, a plurality of vertically arranged staggered steps, a horizontal support provided with a peg engaged into the guiding groove and a step which is engageable into the vertically arranged staggered step or disengageable therefrom by pivoting the support about an axis defined by the peg. The vertically arranged staggered steps are placed outside of the guiding groove which is provided with continuous sidewalls.

The present invention relates to a support arrangement comprising at least one vertical support which has a vertical guiding groove and a plurality of vertically staggered locating steps, as well as comprising a horizontal support having a peg which engages in the guiding groove, and a locating step, which can be brought into and out of engagement with the locating steps of the vertical support by pivoting the horizontal support about an axis defined by the peg. Such a support arrangement or a refrigeration device using such an arrangement is known from DE 101 45 141 A1.

This known support arrangement allows the locating engagement between the horizontal and vertical supports to be released by pivoting so that the horizontal support can be displaced vertically in the guiding groove.

This known support arrangement has the noticeable property that objects placed unsecured on the horizontal support need not necessarily be removed when the horizontal support is to be displaced vertically in the guiding groove. Care should merely be taken to ensure here that the horizontal support is not tilted so substantially about the horizontal axis defined by the peg that this causes objects located on the horizontal support to start sliding. However, the problem is that an angle of tilt at which the locating engagement between the horizontal and vertical supports is released is not uniquely defined. The guiding groove has two side flanks, one provided with locating steps and the other being smooth. If the horizontal support is not simultaneously pulled away from the flank having the locating steps when tilting, it can happen that the locating engagement is only released at an angle of tilt at which objects located on the horizontal support slide off.

During the displacement itself, the user must also take care that the horizontal support is not pressed against the flank of the guiding groove provided with the locating steps so that it does not accidentally engage.

It is now the object of the present invention to provide a support arrangement or a refrigeration device provided with a support arrangement in which the height adjustment of the horizontal support is made simpler and more reliable.

The object is achieved by the locating steps of the vertical support being arranged outside the guiding groove which receives the peg and by the guiding groove having stepless side walls. These stepless side walls allow the horizontal support to be guided uniformly and free from vibration during its vertical movement; when the horizontal support is located in a suitable orientation for vertical displacement, even when the horizontal support is accidentally pressed in the direction of the locating steps, contact between the peg and a side wall of the guiding groove itself prevents it from contacting the locating steps and becoming suspended therefrom.

In order to ensure that the horizontal support is not unintentionally displaced in the axial direction of the peg, a second guiding groove for receiving a second peg of the same or another horizontal support, which is a mirror image of the first guiding groove, is preferably provided over the vertical support.

The horizontal support preferably comprises an elongated supporting arm which bears the locating step which cooperates with the locating step of the vertical support at one of its longitudinal ends and the peg projects laterally from the supporting arm.

As a consequence of a preferred simple embodiment, the peg is cylindrical so that its play in the width direction of the groove which is guiding it is independent of the angle of tilt of the horizontal support.

However, the peg can also have an out-of-round cross-section which makes its play dependent on the angle of tilt and preferably in such a manner that the play becomes smaller with increasing angle of tilt and blocks the tilting of the supporting arm from the horizontal into an orientation which is significantly more severely tilted than is required to release the locating engagement.

The locating steps of the vertical support preferably have a recess which is open at the top in which the locating step of the horizontal support can engage in the engaged state. This engagement prevents pivoting of the horizontal support about the peg without simultaneously raising the horizontal support and thus prevents the locating engagement between the horizontal and vertical supports from being accidentally lost.

A support arrangement of the type described above can be used in particular in a refrigeration device as a holder for storage shelves in the inner chamber of the refrigeration device.

As a consequence of a first embodiment, at least one of the guiding grooves as well as the locating steps of the vertical support adjacent to the guiding groove are formed in one piece of metal. This makes it possible to fabricate the other housing parts of the refrigeration device, in particular an inner container of the same using known techniques so that a plastic can be used as material for the inner container which is not sufficiently load-bearing in terms of the type of material or the wall thickness to then form the locating steps. However, provided that the inner container has sufficient strength, it can then be appropriate to form the locating steps of the vertical support on the inner container so that an inexpensive metal extruded profile can the be used for the guiding groove which is generally subjected to strong mechanical loading; formation of the locating steps partly on the inner container and partly in the severely loaded regions, through the metal body can also be considered.

Further features and advantages of the invention are obtained from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the appended figures. In the figures:

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical section through a refrigeration device with a support arrangement according to the present invention along the plane I-I in FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal section through the refrigeration device along the plane II-II from FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a support and its surroundings in the refrigeration device from FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a section through the peg and its guiding groove according to a first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a section similar to FIG. 4 according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a section similar to FIG. 4 according to a third embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a modified embodiment of the support;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a second modified embodiment of the support and its surroundings

The refrigerator shown in vertical section in FIG. 1 comprises in a manner known per se a body 1 in which an intermediate space between an outer skin 2 composed of multiple parts and an inner container 3 deep-drawn in one piece from plastic is filled with insulating foam material as well as a foam-filled door 4 hinged to the body 1. As shown in the horizontal section in FIG. 2, two vertical grooves 6 are formed on the rear side of the container 3 each in an extension of the side walls 5, which extend substantially over the entire height of the inner container and in which locating steps 7 are arranged at uniform distances. The locating steps 7 can be formed of the material of the inner container 3 during deep drawing but a reinforcing U-profile, for example, of metal can also be inserted in the grooves 6 of the inner container, on which the locating steps 7 are formed.

Located adjacent to the grooves 6 on the rear side of the inner container 3 are two U-profiles 8 which each have a guiding groove with the opening facing the adjacent side wall 5. The profiles 9 end shortly before the bottom of the inner container 3.

Three storage devices 10 for chilled goods are suspended at different heights at the locating steps 7 and the U-profiles 8. These each comprise two elongated supporting arms 11 which extend along the side walls 5 without touching them and which support a horizontal storage shelf 12. A cylindrical peg 13 projects from each of the supporting arms 11 and engages in the guiding grooves 9 of the U-profiles 8 with slight play relative to the depth direction of the body 1. A locating step, or more accurately a locating projection 14, on the rear lower end of the supporting arms 11 engages in the case of the two upper chilled-goods storage devices 10 in a recess formed on the upper side of the locating steps 7. The engagement between the locating projection 14 and the recess 15 prevents the relevant chilled goods storage device 10 from pivoting about the longitudinal axis of the peg 13 in its position shown in FIG. 1 when an upwardly directed force accidentally acts on the front edge of the chilled goods storage device 10.

In order for the chilled goods storage device 10 to be able to pivot, it is first necessary to raise this without pivoting until the locating projection 14 is released from the recess 15. Only then is it possible to pivot the peg 13 so far in the anticlockwise direction in the perspective in FIG. 1 that the rear end of the supporting arm 11 moves so far away from the bottom of the groove 6 that it can pass the locating steps 7 freely and be displaced upwards or downwards. It should be noted that the locating steps 7 or the locating projection 14 are shown substantially enlarged in FIG. 1 for the sake of clear representation. In practice, the extension of the locating steps 7 and locating projection 14 particularly in the depth direction of the body 1 is so small that they would not be recognisable if shown to scale in FIG. 1. Thus, a substantially smaller side angle than appears according to FIG. 1 is sufficient for the locating projection 14 to come free from the locating steps 7 and for the chilled goods storage device 10 to be displaced vertically. The force exerted in the rest state from the rear end of the supporting arm 11 on the bottom of the groove 6 in the horizontal direction is substantially greater than the force from the weight of the chilled goods storage device 10 to be supported by the locating steps 7 as a result of the position of the peg 13 in the vicinity of the wall so that an extension of the locating steps 7 in the depth direction of the housing in the order of magnitude of one millimetre is completely sufficient for secure support.

As is shown for the example of the lowest locating step 7, the recess 15 on the upper side of the locating step 7 can even be omitted so that the chilled goods storage device 10 supported thereon can pivot without simultaneous lifting, as shown in the figure by the dotted outline of the lowest chilled goods storage device 10. In the case of the lowest chilled goods storage device 10, the omission of the recess 15 facilitates pivoting since a pull-out box 16 which completely fills the space underneath the lowest chilled goods storage device 10 makes it difficult for a user to grasp under the chilled goods storage device 10 to lift it without pivoting.

As soon as a chilled goods storage device 10 is located in a sufficiently far-pivoted orientation in which no locating engagement exists between its supporting arm 11 and the locating steps 7, it can be displaced freely into the U-profile 8. As long as the chilled goods storage device 10 has pivoted sufficiently far, contact between the peg 13 and a leg 17 of the U-profile 8 facing the rear wall prevents the supporting arm 11 from becoming unintentionally suspended on one of the locating steps 7.

Additional chilled goods storage devices can easily be mounted by temporarily removing the pull-out box 16 and inserting the pegs 13 of the additional chilled goods storage device 10 into the open lower ends of the grooves 8. Alternatively, it could also be provided that the grooves 8 end at a distance from the roof of the inner container 3 so that additional chilled goods storage devices can be inserted into the grooves 8 from above.

FIG. 3 shows a perspective detailed enlargement of the support arrangement according to the invention in a slightly modified embodiment compared with FIGS. 1 and 2. The supporting arm 11 with peg 13 and locating projection 14 is the same as in the embodiment considered previously. A lateral edge of the storage shelf 12 is firmly glued, clamped or fastened in another suitable manner to the supporting arm 11; the opposite lateral edge is fastened in a similar manner to a supporting arm not shown, which is a mirror image of the supporting arm 11 shown in the figure. The rigid connection of the supporting arms via the storage shelf 12 prevents the supporting arms of the load of the storage shelf 12 from deflecting towards one another and downwards as a result of a pivoting movement.

The U-profile 8 guiding the peg 13 is extended in one piece at its leg 17 facing the rear wall of the inner container 3 by a section 18 having an L-shaped cross-section on which the locating steps 7 are formed. The forces exerted by the supporting arm 11, namely a horizontally forward-directed force F1 exerted by the peg 13 on the front leg 19 of the U-profile, a horizontally backward-directed force F2 exerted by the locating projection 14 on the section 18 and the force G of the weight of the chilled goods storage device 10 exerted by the locating projection 14 on the locating step 7, are absorbed by a single cohesive profile so that the loading of the rear wall of the inner container 3 remains small and consequently no greater wall thickness of the inner container 3 than in conventional refrigerator designs is required.

FIG. 4 shows a section through the U-profile 8 and the peg 13 along the plane designated by IV-IV in FIG. 3. The play of the peg 13 in the groove 9 of the U-profile 8 is small and as a result of the cylindrical cross-section of the peg is independent of its side angle. A displacement of the chilled goods storage device 10 in the vertical direction is thus executed exactly by engagement of the peg 13 in the guiding groove 9 and allows uniform raising and lowering of the chilled goods storage device 10. The peg 13 can slide along on the front leg 19 or on the rear leg 17 without the risk of unintentional engagement.

FIG. 5 shows a section similar to FIG. 4 according to a modified embodiment. In this case, the peg 13 has an elongated cross-section, or more accurately in the form of a rectangle with rounded corners which abuts flat against the front leg 19 when the chilled goods storage device 10 is engaged. When the chilled goods storage device 10 is pivoted for unlocking, the peg 13 becomes increasingly sloping in the groove guiding it and its play becomes increasing smaller with increasing side angle until ultimately in the position of the peg 13 shown as a dot-dash outline in the figure, no further pivoting is possible because the peg 13 is in contact with both legs 17, 19 simultaneously. The side angle at which this occurs is fixed so that in this position, the locating projection 14 is separate from the locating steps 7 and consequently the chilled goods storage device 10 can be raised and lowered freely. In the embodiment in FIG. 5 the user therefore does not need to take care that a side angle of the chilled goods storage device 10 at which objects placed thereon could start to slide is not exceeded; rather, a maximum side angle is provided by the shape of the peg 13 and the groove 9 guiding it of such a magnitude that there is no risk of sliding.

If, in the stop position of the peg 13 shown by the dot-dash line, an excessive torque acts on said peg, appreciable frictional forces can occur between the peg 13 and the legs 17, 19 of the U-profile 8, making any displacement of the chilled goods storage device 10 difficult.

A further development of the peg in FIG. 5 which obviates this problem is shown in the sectional view in FIG. 6. In this case, the peg 13 is formed by two rollers 21 suspended rotatably on the supporting arm 11, which both abut against the leg 19 in the locked position of the chilled goods storage device 10 and of which the lower abuts against the leg 19 and the upper against the leg 17 in the pivoted stop position. The chilled goods storage device 10 can thus be held firmly pressed into the pivoted stop position during upward and downward displacement without excessive friction at the legs 17, 19 making displacement difficult.

FIG. 7 shows another modification of the support arrangement according to the invention in a perspective view similar to that in FIG. 4. In this case, the leg 17 of the U-profile 8 adjacent to the rear wall is lengthened flush over the front edge of the leg 19, openings 22 being punched at uniform distances in the lengthened section. Recesses 23 of the rear wall of the inner container 3 are located behind the openings 22 in each case. In this case, each individual opening 22 can be assigned its own recess 23; for simplicity, however, all the recesses 23 can be connected for form a continuous groove in the vertical direction as the groove 6 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The locating projection 14 of the supporting arm 11 engages through one of the openings 22 into the allocated recess 23 of the inner container 3 and thus secures the chilled goods storage device 10 against unintentional pivoting. The locating projection 14 and a second downwardly projecting projection 24 of the locating arm 11 embrace the lower edge of the opening 22, the projection 24 being supported on the front side of the lengthened leg 17. The advantages of this further development is that the openings 22 can be implemented more simply and cost-effectively than the projecting locating steps 7 in the embodiments in FIGS. 1 to 3, for example, by stamping into an extruded profile.

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment in which two pegs 13 which project coaxially in opposite directions are formed on a supporting arm 11. The pegs 13 are guided in the guiding grooves 9 a, 9 b, which face one another by U-profiles 8 a, 8 b which are a mirror image of each other. The legs 17 a, 17 b adjacent to the rear wall are joined in one piece by a section 25 which is provided with openings 22 at uniform distances as in the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 7. Since the supporting arm 11 in this embodiment is guided by the pegs 13 on two sides, it cannot yield to a force acting thereupon by simultaneously pivoting downwards and to the side. It is therefore suitable for being a single bearer of a storage shelf (not shown in the figure). In order to secure the storage shelf against tipping, the supporting arm 11 is provided here with laterally projecting branches 26. 

1-12. (canceled)
 13. A support arrangement comprising: at least one vertical support which has a vertical guiding groove and a plurality of vertically staggered locating steps; a horizontal support having a peg which engages in the guiding groove, and a horizontal locating step which can be brought into and out of engagement with the locating steps of the vertical support by pivoting the horizontal support about an axis defined by the peg; and wherein the locating steps of the vertical support are arranged outside the guiding groove and the guiding groove has stepless side walls.
 14. The support arrangement according to claim 13, wherein the vertical support has a second guiding groove which is substantially a mirror image of the first guiding groove.
 15. The support arrangement according to claim 13, wherein the horizontal support comprises an elongated supporting arm which bears the horizontal locating step at one of its longitudinal ends and that the peg projects laterally from the supporting arm.
 16. The support arrangement according to claim 15, wherein the supporting arm bears a second peg which engages in the second groove.
 17. The support arrangement according to claim 15, wherein the horizontal support comprises a second supporting arm which is substantially a mirror image of the first supporting arm and which engages in the second groove.
 18. The support arrangement according to claim 13, wherein the peg is cylindrical.
 19. The support arrangement according to claim 13, wherein the peg has an out-of-round cross-section which defines the freedom of tilting movement of the support.
 20. The support arrangement according to claim 13, wherein the locating steps of the vertical support have a recess which is open at the top and that the locating step of the horizontal support engages in one of these recesses in the engaged state.
 21. A refrigeration device comprising: an inner chamber surrounded by a heat-insulating housing: a support arrangement mounted within the inner chamber and including: at least one vertical support which has a vertical guiding groove and a plurality of vertically staggered locating steps; a horizontal support having a peg which engages in the guiding groove, and a horizontal locating step which can be brought into and out of engagement with the locating steps of the vertical support by pivoting the horizontal support about an axis defined by the peg; and wherein the locating steps of the vertical support are arranged outside the guiding groove and the guiding groove has stepless side walls.
 22. The refrigeration device according to claim 21, wherein at least one of the guiding grooves as well as the locating steps of the vertical support adjacent to the guiding groove are formed by a cohesive metal body.
 23. The refrigeration device according to claim 21, wherein the locating steps of the vertical support are formed at least partially on an inner container of the housing.
 24. The refrigeration device according to claim 21, wherein the at least one guiding groove is formed by a metal profile. 